"Boreal Moon - 02 - Ironcrown Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)
УWhat then?Ф
УI am to bespeak the Conjure-Queen that all is in readiness,Ф said his brother, perching on one of the chairs near the cold fireplace. The king took the other one. УShe will attempt the Sending, while we pray she does not succeed. If Ullanoth walks through that door, it means that the babeТs talent permitted her to materialize beside Risalla.Ф
УAnd IТm futtered once again,Ф Conrig murmured bitterly. УDamn it, Gossy! If I could but convince the Lords of the South to do away with the impediment, then IТd be safe and so would my sonsЕ What a king young Bramlow would make! Bold as a hawk and sharp as a varg sword! You should have seen the little rogue get the better of that bloody pet monkey this evening.Ф He described the scene in the royal nursery, and Stergos had to smile in spite of his nervousness.
УI punished the lad harshly,Ф Conrig admitted. УA weekТs confinement on bread and milk. He must learn self-discipline if we ever hope to have the talent restriction lifted. The Lords of the South will never yield if they envision a wizard with overt powers sitting one day on the throne.Ф
Stergos ventured, УShall I windspeak the Conjure-Queen now?Ф
УWait just a moment.Ф The king casually covered his mouth with his hand. УI must ask your advice on another matter before we converse with UllaТs Sending. She almost never uses the Loophole to eavesdrop now because of her considerable pain-debt, and if we guard ourselves from scrierТs lip-reading, our speech should be secure from her.Ф
УWhat is it, Con?Ф Stergos had drawn the hood of his crimson cloak over his head so that his face was concealed.
УI had disquieting news from Parlian Beorbrook tonight at the feast. You know heТs just come down from an inspection of our Wold Road outposts in western Didion.Ф
УDonТt tell me Prince Somarus is up to his old tricks!Ф
УNo. As far as the earl marshal can tell, the bastardТs lying doggo for the moment somewhere in the Lady Lakes region. BeorbrookТs news concerns something far more serious: a rumor that Maudrayne may be alive, hiding somewhere in Tarn. A traveler from Donorvale said that the rumor has spread like wildfire over the past two weeks among the fishermenТs taverns of the northwestern shore, and thence to the low dives of the Tarnian capital.Ф
The hooded figure of the alchymist had given a great start as the king spoke his first wifeТs name. УSaint Zeth preserve usЧitТs not possible that Maude lives! The conjoined minds of the Brotherhood searched the entire island, virtually inch by inch, and failed to scry any trace of the Princess Dowager. Even UllanothТs Subtle Loophole detected nothingЧand the sigil supposedly can oversee anyone, anywhere in the world.Ф
УSo the Conjure-Queen says. But her close scrutiny took place four years ago, shortly after Maude was thought to have drowned. At the time, Ulla admitted that her search might have been thwarted by Red Ansel Pikan. The magical capabilities of the Grand Shaman of Tarn are unknown to her. He might have been able to block the action of the Great Stone. The painful search effort so debilitated Ullanoth that she was forced to avoid using Loophole for many months. Since then, as far as I know, she has made no further attempt to look for Maude.Ф
УWhat are we to do, Con?Ф StergosТs voice was taut with shock. He and the king had found and read MaudrayneТs secret diary after her presumed death. In it, she had revealed not only that she had conceived ConrigТs child, but also her knowledge of her husbandТs arcane taint. УIf the princess lives and has birthed a son not possessed of talent, you are undone! She knows your secret and could divulge it at any time, with Ansel to testify to the truth of it. Even if your twin sons by Risalla are accepted as normal, the law says that MaudrayneТs boy must inherit your crown if you are deposed.Ф
УIf she lives! And if she tells what she knows and produces the normal-minded male child. Here is where I require your advice, Gossy. Would it be wise for me to once again enlist the Conjure-Queen in the search for Maude? IТm reluctant to do so, since it would give Ulla even more power over me than she has now. I feel IТd be jumping from the hot griddle into the fire pit.Ф
УMy God, yes. Her ambitionsЕ Con, you know IТve never trusted the woman.Ф
УYes, yes,Ф the king said impatiently. УNevertheless, her Loophole probably holds out the best chance of locating Maude and any child she may have had.Ф
УPerhaps not, if Red Ansel still keeps the Princess Dowager under his protection. But even the most powerful sorcery has limitations. For instance, Maudrayne and her child could not live permanently inside a spell of invisibility woven by Ansel. Such an existence would be insupportable to the healthy human temperament. Furthermore, a high-spirited woman such as Maude would never consent to be immured within some impregnable magical fortress for years upon end.Ф
Conrig gave a short mirthless laugh. УNo, not Maude! SheТd take her boy hiking on the tundra and sailing in her yacht on the arctic waters. SheТd teach him to ski and to hunt elk and ice bears and sea unicorns. And if she does these things, there are bound to be local people who know about it. In my opinion, she might be sought and found by a clever and talented spyЧsuch as my Royal Intelligencer, Snudge. What do you think, Gossy?Ф
Stergos hesitated. УIf Maude is hiding in Tarn, she would surely be protected by the magic of more than one of the local shamans. Ansel would hardly spend all of his time shielding her. He has other responsibilities. Deveron Austrey would have a special advantage over the lesser northern adepts, since his talent is imperceptible to all but the most powerful. Furthermore, heТs impossible to windwatch, so they would be able to observe him only with ordinary eyesight. But what will you do if Deveron does discover that your former wife is alive, and has a son?Ф
УThatЕ can be decided later. But I believe thereТs only one solution to the problem.Ф
УFor the love of God, Con, tell me you would notЧФ
The king cut off his brotherТs horrified protest. УSay no more! This rumor may prove to be entirely false. We will not discuss the fate of the Princess Dowager now.Ф
УAs you please, sire.Ф
Conrig said, УI gave Snudge permission to leave Gala Blenholme and visit his new estate following his initiation ceremony. He said heТd ride out at once. You must bespeak him, ordering his return.Ф
УDo it then,Ф Conrig said.
The Royal Alchymist let his head sink into his hands and called out silently on the wind. After a few minutes had passed, he opened his eyes and said, УShe will make an attempt to Send immediately.Ф
They waited, straining their ears, fearing the sound of approaching steps from the room where Risalla lay, but hearing only the distant sounds of music and revelry outside in the gardens. At length Conrig leapt to his feet.
УI canТt stand it any longer. IТm going in thereЧФ
УThat wonТt be necessary.Ф
The sweet woodsy scent of vetiver wafted into the room. A silhouette was standing in front of the tall, undraped window, completely enveloped in a deep green cloak. UllanothТs Sending had flashed into existence with no warning. A hand, pale as milk and wearing a ring of carved moonstone on one long, graceful finger, emerged from the folds of cloth and extended itself towards Conrig.
He hastened to take the hand, brushing the back of it with his lips. He carefully avoided any contact with the ring, which was a powerful sigil named Weathermaker. УGracious Queen, welcome.Ф
Ullanoth of Moss unfastened her cloak and handed it to the High King as though he were a simple lackey. Except for the purplish shadows about her eyes, her face was as lovely as ever, framed by shimmering long hair that mimicked the pearly interior of certain seashells. Her gown was the same unadorned green samite as her cape, and her belt was gold, with a hanging purse. Around her neck hung a golden chain with a curiously carved small translucent pendant that glowed in the dim room like wan foxfireЧthe Great Stone named Sender, the third major sigil that she owned. Its power, invoked only at the cost of terrible pain now that her debt to the Lights was so heavy, enabled Ullanoth to inhabit a magical simulacrum of her natural body, in which her soul might travel anywhere in the world while her true flesh lay senseless. The Sending was no vaporous ghost, but rather a warm and solid replica with a full palette of physical sensation, able to carry from its point of origin all clothing and other accoutrements worn or held by the original. It could not, however, draw sustenance from food or drink at its destination, nor could it carry back any foreign object. And if the Sending remained in existence for more than a few hours, the true body would begin to deteriorate mortally.
There was another important limitation to the Sending that only the most advanced arcane practitioners were aware of: it could materialize only near a talented person, from whom it drew magical substantiation.
УThen RisallaТs unborn child is free of talent!Ф Conrig cried joyously.
Ullanoth nodded. УYes. Tonight, IТve used Vra-Stergos as my substantiator. Let us go to your wife now and determine whether the babe is male or female.Ф
The three of them went into the room where Risalla lay, but after a few suspenseful moments Ullanoth stepped away from the sleeperТs couch and shook her head. УAlas for your hopes, my king! Your wife carries a healthy girl, without arcane talent as all of her sex must be, unless they are of far northern human bloodЕ or doubly descended from the Green Ones.Ф
Conrig groaned. УIf the laws of Didion prevailed here, the lass might reign as their great Queen Casabarela did! But Cathra reserves its crown for male issue, and so must my Sovereignty.Ф
УUnless the law is changed,Ф Stergos put in with a hopeful smile.
УDonТt be a fool, Gossy,Ф the king exclaimed. УWhy should the Lords of the South agree to change it now, when all save we three believe there are two legitimate male heirs to the throne? We can only hope for a better outcome to a future pregnancy, and meanwhile pray that no enemy learns the secret of my poor sons and I.Ф
УThere are only two enemies,Ф Ullanoth said, Уthat need concern you now.Ф
Conrig and Stergos regarded her with open dismay, each thinking that she must have heard the rumor about Maudrayne and her son.
But the Conjure-Queen went on to say, УMy little brother Beynor knows nothing of your own talentЧnot yet. But heТs up to some kind of mischief with the Salka. IТve been too indisposed to spy on him closely with the Loophole sigil of late, but my ordinary scrying reveals him to be in a state of unusual excitement. IТve told you that Beynor spends his time studying the historical archives of his monstrous hosts in the Dawntide Isles. I cannot read lips well, and the Salka have erected magical barriers that dim my unaugmented oversight of their citadel. But I believe that Beynor may have made some important discovery. And he may have shared it with your old enemy, Vra-Kilian Black-horse, the former Royal Alchymist.Ф
УBut how?Ф Stergos demanded. УOur wretched uncle was deprived of all talent by the iron gammadion before being confined to Zeth Abbey. Kilian is unable to speak on the wind himself, nor can he receive any windspoken communication from another. And no humans dare set foot on the Dawntide Isles, so there can have been no written message from Beynor delivered to the abbey.Ф
УMy brother may have been cursed by the Lights and stripped of his sigils,Ф Ullanoth said, Уbut he still retains the strong natural talents he was born with. One of those is the ability to invade dreams. When we were young children, he used to torment me until I learned to shut him out. Fortunately, that defensive ability comes readily to those who are adept at the arcane arts.Ф
The king nodded thoughtfully, remembering that Snudge had also told him once of being harassed by Beynor while sleeping. УSo you believe your brother communicates with Kilian through dreams?Ф
УZeth Abbey is well shielded from windsearching, but I have been able to follow BeynorТs mental footsteps, as it were, to that place many times. I doubt there is any other person residing in the abbey who would be of interest to him.Ф
УBeynor and Kilian!Ф Conrig mused. УWhat common cause could the two exiles share nowadays? And yet they did conspire against me as I prepared to invade DidionЕФ
Ullanoth had learned some years ago that both villains shared knowledge of a mysterious hidden trove of sigils. But she was unaware that the king already knew of its existence.
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